This pug video is the best illustration of Plato’s ‘Cave Allegory’ ever.

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You might think that a cute, thirsty pug has very little to do with Classical Greek philosopher Plato. 

But this particular little pug who just wanted a drink ended up being the perfect visual representation of one of Plato’s most well-known allegories, “The Allegory of the Cave.”

The allegory is, simply put, about mistaking appearance for reality. In Plato’s allegory, a group of prisoners are chained facing a wall, and only ever exposed to shadows, and not the objects that cast them. This leads them to think that the shadow is the thing itself. 

And this little pug did a pretty good job of illustrating that allegory by attempting to drink from the shadow of a running tap.

Twitter user @bijanstephen shared a video of the pug with the caption “I’ve never seen a clearer explanation of Plato’s cave.”

People on twitter were into the little pug, who is probably unaware of how brilliant that tap shadow drinking bit is. 

Some Twitterers pointed out that, per Plato, the person filming is actually morally obliged to help the poor pug figure that the shadow of water is not the same as water. 

Thank you, pug, for teaching me what my High School philosophy class couldn’t. 

Read more: https://mashable.com/article/pug-plato-cave-twitter/

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Tags: animalsCulturephilosophypugtwitter-momentsweb-culture